The Ascended Beings I've Met
by Maeve Bran
Summary: Missing scene for "The Powers That Be." Daniel and Vala have a conversation while she's in jail that night on the planet.


**Title**: The Ascended Beings I've Met

**Author**: Maeve Bran

**Rating**: K+

**Summary**: Missing scene for "The Powers That Be." Daniel and Vala have a conversation while she's in jail that night on the planet.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Stargate SG-1. I'm just having a little fun.

**Spoilers**: Everything through 9.5 "The Powers That Be" is fair game.

* * *

Vala looked around the cell she was being held in. Daniel was slumped beside the door. Mitchell and Teal'c had left for the night, leaving her and Daniel alone. She knew he was angry. But at who, she didn't know.

"Daniel?" Vala broke the silence. "Can I ask you a question?"

"If it means I'll get some peace and quiet, by all means," came the sharp retort of a frustrated Daniel. He wasn't so upset with Vala as he was with himself for not seeing the possibility of the locals imprisoning her for her confession.

"Back in Ver Ager, you mentioned, 'the Ascended Beings I've met'. What did you mean? When did you meet the Ascended Beings?" she asked.

Daniel took a deep breath and briefly closed his eyes before answering. "The short answer is, I used to be one."

"And the long answer?" Vala prodded him.

"It's a very long story, that all starts on a planet called Keb. I met Oma Desala there and started on the journey to enlightenment. Then a year and half later, I took a fatal dose of radiation poisoning. Dying was a prolonged and painful process, and Oma came to offer me ascension rather than death. I chose to go with her; I shed my physical body at the moment of my death and became energy. Over the next year, I watched over my friends as they got into trouble but was forbidden to interfere. I walked the fine line and came close to crossing it. Eventually I must have, because I was expelled back to human form with no memory. I eventually recovered most it, except for large portions of that year. Two years later, just a couple months ago, I was killed by the Replicator version of my friend Sam, and Oma helped me Ascend again, only this time I chose to return to human form," Daniel explained.

Vala was, for once, speechless. The implications of just whom she had attached herself to sank in. She may have been worshiped as a god once, but Daniel had been the closest thing the galaxy had to the real thing. Daniel an Ascended being? That baffled her. Not that he had been one, but that he had given it up not once but twice.

Daniel was waiting for her reaction. When the silence had stretched on for five minutes, he looked over at her, and was surprised to find her doing an impression of a startled fish. "Don't you have anything to say to that?" he asked sharply.

"Not really. What is there to say? I'm not worthy of your company? I think we both know that is true," Vala said maudlinly.

Daniel frowned at her in surprise. "Why would you say that?"

"Daniel, ascension is as close as this galaxy comes to true gods. I just pretend to be a false god, while you've been to the higher planes. That says a lot about your character. As does the fact that you still talk to me after the way we met and the way I hijacked you and your team to go treasure hunting," Vala admitted.

Daniel smirked at her latest admission. "I might have been on a higher plane of existence, but that does not mean that Ascended beings are gods or anything close. They are just people who have become energy. Yes, to have someone like Oma help you you have to be a good person, but I didn't think I deserved the help. Still, it was better than the alternative. That's the only reason I chose ascension the second time. I knew about Anubis's plans for Dakara, and I convinced Oma to fight Anubis; he was half ascended. It seems that Oma had been tricked into helping Anubis ascend, and when she found out she tried to send him back. The others had only sent him half way back to punish her. So she fought him and I came back, this time with my memories intact. The ascended make mistakes. They are not gods."

"All right, you were not a god, but I still think you got closer than I ever did," Vala conceded.

"In the end, there is only one thing we can ever control, that is whether we are good or evil," Daniel quoted to her.

"What?" Vala asked.

"That was what Oma said to finally convince me I was worthy of Ascension. It is true. If I have done anything with my life I have tried to do good. I haven't always succeeded, but I have tried. You could too. It wouldn't be easy but you could try," Daniel explained.

"I think I may be too set in my ways to change now," Vala said with a wry chuckle.

"It is never too late until you're dead, and sometimes not even then," Daniel encouraged her.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Vala inquired, becoming more and more curious about what made this complicated man even try to defend her after all she had done to him.

"It means you've died and come back and have been given another chance. Don't waste it. You can make a difference for this galaxy," Daniel explained.

"I've done too much to ever make amends for it. You should know that," Vala said blandly.

"Yes, I know some of what you've done, but I've also seen you choose not to kill even to steal a ship. I know deep down inside there is a good woman, and that is who I'm defending tomorrow. Not the thief and the liar, but the good woman I know hides behind the tough woman she has had to become."

Daniel turned to look at her only to find that she was tearing up and about to cry. He reached an arm through the bars and pulled her closer, so her head rested awkwardly on his shoulder. "Now, I need some sleep so I can do my best to convince these people not to kill you or to follow the Prior."

Vala attempted to brighten up and said weakly, "I've always wanted to sleep with you, but I never imagined it would be like this."

Daniel smiled and settled her head more comfortably on his shoulder.

-x-


End file.
